An Awkward Conversation
by atsuibelulah
Summary: Set only a few months after the end of The Way Forward. Toby sits down to some breakfast with Sarah's new boyfriend, and the resulting conversation is not what he was expecting.  Will make no sense if you've not read TWB&F. But please do! ONESHOT


A/N: I hate putting the author's note up here, but the casual reader will need a warning for this one. This is a one-shot attached to the world of my other Labyrinth fics, **The Way Back**, and it's epilogue, **The Way Forward**. I'd really rather not have flames because people don't understand what the deal is. But, if you're curious, click my profile and check them out first. Also, greetings to my loyal readers, thanks for sticking by me after the creative drought that was the last seven months. Hopefully I will be posting more soon!

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**An Awkward Conversation**

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Soft sunlight filtered through the half-shaded windows of Sarah's new apartment and onto Toby's half-soggy corn flakes. The morning after Toby's late night arrival in London dawned surprisingly sunny, considering the heavy clouds and steady rain they had traveled through the night before. He remembered thinking, as he was trying to get to sleep and trying to ignore any noises he heard from the occupied room next to his, that it was a crappy way to start the summer.

Toby tried not to worry about how awkward the rest of his stay was going to be. But it didn't seem to be working. He hadn't seen Sarah in so long...what if she was different somehow? And this new boyfriend, the one whose apartment she was sharing, Toby didn't know him at all.

He felt like he was intruding into their lives. Their relationship seemed to be very private, sharing looks and touches, gestures that only they could know the meaning behind.

Toby would not want to deny his sister any kind of happiness, but he wondered how often he would feel alone when the two of them were in the room.

He pushed the cereal around in the milk with his spoon and sighed quietly. He hadn't really wanted any breakfast, but he'd felt uncomfortable refusing Sarah's boyfriend's offer.

Jay was now busy frying an egg while keeping one eye on the coffee pot across the kitchen from where Toby sat. The boy looked down again at his untouched cereal. Sarah had not emerged from the couple's room yet, apparently still far from a morning person. Jay made Toby even more uncomfortable when Sarah was not around. He was...untrustworthy.

Maybe untrustworthy wasn't the right word. Toby felt like the man knew more than he was saying, that he was playing a role or something. But he shook his head a moment later. That wasn't right either. Jay never acted that way towards Sarah, only him.

Jay sat at the table, in the seat opposite Toby, flashing him a strangely awkward smile. It was a smile that was more uncertain than fake. Toby did not smile back, but began actually eating his breakfast. He hated the idea of having to explain why he didn't want it.

While he dutifully shoveled the cereal into his mouth he thought about that uncertain smile. Despite what most people thought about kids his age, and despite what most kids his age were really like, Toby knew he was pretty good at reading people. Sarah's disappearance had forced him to grow up more than anyone had truly perceived yet.

Not very long after they'd got the news about his sister that long year and a half before, he had begun people watching. He spent hours in public places, thinking, trying to figure out what type of person would kidnap someone, which businessman cheated on his wife, which teenager resented her parents for what reason. Sometimes, if he watched long enough, he would find out that he was usually right.

Toby knew it wasn't nervousness that made Jay's smile uncertain. He wasn't trying to impress his girlfriend's kid brother, he wasn't worried about that. Toby thought that if the man had wanted to impress him, he could have done it within a minute of their first meeting at the airport.

Jay reminded him of someone, someone Toby had never met, but thought he would know anywhere.

But every time his mind came back to that idea he shook his head and thought about something else. It was stupid. Something only a child would believe. Kid's stuff...and only that. Toby knew he wasn't really a kid anymore.

His sister saved him from having to try to think about something else when she finally came into the kitchen. Toby looked up to see the genuine smile, the light-up-a-room smile that always came to Jay's face whenever he saw Sarah.

A lot of other kids would have rolled their eyes and looked away. Toby kept his eyes on Sarah and Jay whenever they were together. Jay murmured something to her, probably about it being so late in the morning. She replied and he laughed softly. All of it was too low for Toby to hear, but he didn't really need to anyway.

"Hey kid," Sarah had turned to him. "How're the cornflakes on this side of the pond?"

Toby smiled ruefully, "Soggy, like everything else."

Her laugh was like silver and he grinned. That sound had always made his smile wider. For a long time he had wondered if he'd ever hear it again.

"Well, it's supposed to be nice today. Good for sight-seeing." She grinned at him, obviously excited, then ran a hand through her sleep-mussed hair and grimaced. "Well, I'm for the shower. Give a shout if you need me for something." She reached over the table to ruffle his hair, but his reflexes were better than the last time she'd tried that maneuver. He was on the middle school basketball team now, up and coming junior varsity.

He caught her hand neatly by the wrist, surprising her. She stumbled forward against the table with a startled "hey!" But the look of triumph vanished from his face when his fingers brushed the scars and his eyes only just caught sight of them under her sleeve.

Sarah snatched her hand back with a shaky smile and a shakier laugh, "Caught me there, eh, kid? I'll have to be more careful next time." Her eyes were haunted when she turned away from him. Of course she hadn't wanted him to know.

Jay caught her hand at the door to the bathroom, in much the same way Toby just had. But his touch was gentle and there was a strange sorrow in his eyes. Toby could not look away as Jay moved his thumb across the scars on his sister's wrist, like he would rub them away if he could, with sheer force of will.

But in that moment, with that gesture, Toby knew that Jay knew. Jay knew what no one in their family, what no other friend of Sarah's knew. He knew what had happened to her.

Jay ate his egg quickly and was clearing his empty plate from the table when they heard the muffled noise from the shower. He returned to the table with another cup of coffee. He sipped it and read a magazine while Toby fixed him with an icy glare.

Why should Jay know? Why should it be this man that Sarah trusted enough with her story? Why should no one else be allowed to know? _What had happened to her?_

Toby saw Jay lift his eyes from his reading momentarily, catching the boy's hostile gaze and discarded, half-finished cereal. He thought he saw the fleeting trace of a knowing smirk and it reminded him of that same someone.

But Jay's face was a study in seriousness as he set down his paper and mug. Folding his arms in front of him, he quietly inquired, "Is there something on your mind, Toby? Something you'd like to talk to me about?"

"She told you, didn't she? What happened, I mean." He wanted to be as cool as Jay, just as calm and collected. But it was too big, the question burst out of him before he wanted it to. He sounded petulant, a whining child.

Jay's eyes filled with a contained anger, one not directed at Toby, "I know what happened to her while she was missing."

Toby caught him twisting the words, "But she didn't _tell_ you? So what? Were you there?!"

"Certainly not, Toby," Jay said with an almost irritated shake of the head, just like Coach when he'd done something stupid with the other boys. "Your observational skills are not what I thought, if you jump to conclusions like that. Think, boy."

Toby scowled at being called a boy, but answered readily, rising to his obvious bait, "So you weren't there. Sarah would never willingly stay near the person who did that to her."

"Exactly."

Toby's scowl deepened as he waited for the man to say something else. He didn't like being toyed with, but Jay just turned back to his paper, that same knowing smirk still on his face, like he was so superior.

"She told us she didn't remember. Why would she lie? Why doesn't she want us to know?" He gripped the table hard, but couldn't stop the questions from coming, it was too big.

It must have been the expression on Toby's face, but Jay's smirk vanished when their eyes met again. He set aside the paper, "It is rather an unbelievable story—

Toby defensively broke him off right away, "Sarah never told a story _I_ didn't believe!"

The infuriating man continued as if he'd not said anything. "It is also rather difficult for her to speak about, Toby. She doesn't want to trouble you, or anyone else."

Toby opened his mouth to reply, but realized he was being selfish. Sarah didn't want him to know because it would hurt her if he did. It would hurt her to tell him.

Jay spoke again after a moment and the understanding in his voice took the boy by surprise. Their eyes met once more, "I know that you believe in Sarah's stories as much as I do." Toby's eyes widened as he continued, "While Sarah would like to give you as normal a life as possible, we both know what it's like to have your life touched by the extraordinary." Jay began to fiddle with the corner of the newspaper, as if he wasn't sure what to say, or maybe how much more.

"I...I'm not sure what you're getting at..." Toby stared at the man in front of him, his shock of bleach blond hair, his angular, almost alien face, only the eyes different from her description. Toby wasn't sure whether or not he wanted to believe where his thoughts were going. But he asked the question anyway. "Are...you're him, aren't you?" The words sounded strangely familiar to him, like déjà vu, or something out of a dream he'd had once.

Jay smiled at him, as if giving congratulations on a puzzle solved. "More or less," his manner was light.

"But how did you—"

"Toby, I'd rather not say more than that. The more you know..." he seemed reluctant to even say that much more, but he continued, albeit reluctantly, "It's not that we don't think we can trust you with the truth...As you may have guessed from the nature of Sarah's injuries, the whole situation is rather dangerous."

Toby hated being treated like a kid, sometimes he hardly felt like one, his frustration showed on his face, "I don't need to be protected—"

"Yes!" Jay's tone was surprisingly forceful. There was an imperiousness to it, a sense that these words must be listened to and obeyed. "Yes you do, Toby. So does Sarah. And now that I am here, I can't offer her the type of protection I would want."

Toby's interest was piqued by that statement, "You...have no power here?"

Jay smiled bitterly, "I am Jay Travers. Born in Bristol, 27 June, 1969, but I am also him. However, the power of his kind can not be extended to mortals. The magic of that world can bend time, kid. Imagine what it can do to you."

He swallowed a little nervously and held up his hands, "All right, all right, I won't ask anymore questions." But Toby paused for a moment, "Except this one."

Jay quirked an eyebrow in expectation, his expression said, _this had better be good._

"You do love her don't you?" Toby felt weird asking, but this man could be any kind of actor, he could have any motive. The man Sarah had told him about was fond of tricks and deception.

Jay's brown eyes met Toby's, filled with the shadow of memory, but also an astounding depth of emotion. "She woke me up," he spoke softly, "twice. She saved my life. She's the most kind and brave and beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. Yes, I love her very much. I have loved her in two worlds and in two lifetimes."

"Oh." Now Toby felt really awkward, and decided he shouldn't have asked. It was all so...intense. He felt young and small in the face of such conviction. He pushed his mush around in its bowl a little, but it was so saturated it wouldn't really move. "That's all right then, I suppose." Toby's eyes had been on the table, and he looked up to Jay's smile.

"Jeez, what time is it? Sorry about the late start, kid." Sarah's voice emerged from the other room, followed by his sister, hair dryer in hand. "I've just got to tame this tangled mess and then we can head out."

Toby turned and answered as normally as he could after the conversation he'd just finished, " 'kay." He really hoped it didn't sound too shrill.

"Where do you want to go today? Didn't you say the Tower over the phone?"

Toby remembered saying that, his friend had told him it was pretty cool. But descriptions of the torture devices, and prison cells, and beheadings made him do some fast thinking. "Er, what about Big Ben? And I wanna ride on the London Eye. You know, see the _whole_ city first."

Sarah smiled, "All right. Finish your cereal, first okay? Sight-seeing is always better on a full stomach."

Toby grimaced. "It's kinda soggy."

"You said it was soggy before. Suck it up."

"Yeah, but it's really soggy now!"

Sarah walked over and looked in his bowl. "Eww. That is soggy. What have you guys been doing while I was busy in there?" She pinned her eyes on Jay, "Must have been distracting."

Jay smiled disarmingly, a smooth flash of teeth, a mischievous look in his eyes, "We were just talking, love."

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A/N: There it is. Not much, but I really wanted to write this conversation. And, whenever I get around to actually writing it, this conversation will be important to later relations between Toby and Jay/Jareth in the sequel. Hope you enjoyed! Please leave me your thoughts!

Disclaimer: Don't own the characters...the labyrinth wasn't even involved this time. xP


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